Musicals and history
For reasons that I blame on certain people and from watching far too much of PBS' "Broadway: The American Musical," I am currently watching Fame on youtube. The original. Not the remake. Or the tv show. I'm also fighting the urge to dig out all my musical soundtracks. Also, Patrick Stump really needs to record a version of "On the Willows" from Godspell.
In other news, this cracks me up. Same thing happend to my aunt before she got married. We have one of the most common last names in the country, and as we are an Irish-American Catholic Family, we have pretty generic first names too. Since I've had my own bouts of fun with TSA, esp. on my times flying to and from the country, I have a feeling a variation of mine is on the list.
I started watching Band of Brothers for the first time, about a week and a half ago. I, yeah...I can't believe it has taken me this long to watch it. Even though I am all Miss History Master's with a focus on WWII, it was always more a Holocaust and Fascist Italy and Greece than "oh, yeah, those US troop" thing. Honestly, I am more a social and cultural historian, so it takes me a while to get to the military-history aspects. But yeah, beautifully shot, well acted and worth every award it won. I am now reading the Stephen E. Ambrose's book it was based off of and am eager to compare the differences. After that, I'll probably re-read McDonogh's After the Reich, since I find it to always be an important read. It's horrifying and is a part of history most American schools don't teach (like how, oh, those internment camps on US soil of American citizens of Japanese descent just, whoops, get "forgot" in the grand scheme of teaching WWII to school kids) and was the source of a very interesting debate in one of my classes over how we almost sympathize with what the Soviet Soldiers did to German citizens after the Reich fell, but go off against what the Japanese forces did in Nanking. (For the record, I don't think you can argue degrees of atrocities, but I still think that what the Japanese did was even worse since they refuse to acknowledge it. Either way it's human beings doing the absoulte worst to each other.)
Eh, some people drink and party for fun. I read non-fiction history books and cross reference and debate them. At least I know where my calling is in life. Now, if only the job market would open up.
In other news, this cracks me up. Same thing happend to my aunt before she got married. We have one of the most common last names in the country, and as we are an Irish-American Catholic Family, we have pretty generic first names too. Since I've had my own bouts of fun with TSA, esp. on my times flying to and from the country, I have a feeling a variation of mine is on the list.
I started watching Band of Brothers for the first time, about a week and a half ago. I, yeah...I can't believe it has taken me this long to watch it. Even though I am all Miss History Master's with a focus on WWII, it was always more a Holocaust and Fascist Italy and Greece than "oh, yeah, those US troop" thing. Honestly, I am more a social and cultural historian, so it takes me a while to get to the military-history aspects. But yeah, beautifully shot, well acted and worth every award it won. I am now reading the Stephen E. Ambrose's book it was based off of and am eager to compare the differences. After that, I'll probably re-read McDonogh's After the Reich, since I find it to always be an important read. It's horrifying and is a part of history most American schools don't teach (like how, oh, those internment camps on US soil of American citizens of Japanese descent just, whoops, get "forgot" in the grand scheme of teaching WWII to school kids) and was the source of a very interesting debate in one of my classes over how we almost sympathize with what the Soviet Soldiers did to German citizens after the Reich fell, but go off against what the Japanese forces did in Nanking. (For the record, I don't think you can argue degrees of atrocities, but I still think that what the Japanese did was even worse since they refuse to acknowledge it. Either way it's human beings doing the absoulte worst to each other.)
Eh, some people drink and party for fun. I read non-fiction history books and cross reference and debate them. At least I know where my calling is in life. Now, if only the job market would open up.